My thoughts as I walk this path…

Thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the LORD, and returned to depart, according to the word of the LORD. 1 Kings 12:24

My child, I have a message for you today; let me whisper it in your ear, that it may gild with glory any storm clouds which may arise , and smooth the rough places upon which you may have to tread. It is short, only five words, but let them sink into your inmost soul; use them as a pillow upon which to rest your weary head. This thing is from ME.

Have you ever thought of it, that all that concerns you concerns Me too? For, “he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of mine eye” (Zech.2:8).You are very precious in my sight (Isaiah 43:4). Therefore, it is My special delight to educate you.

I would have you learn when temptations assail you, and the “enemy comes in like a flood,” that this thing is from Me, that your weakness needs My might, and your safety lies in letting Me fight for you.

Are you in difficult circumstances, surrounded by people who do not under-stand you, who never consult your taste, who put you in the background? This thing is from Me. I am the God of circumstances, Thou camest not to thy place by accident, it is the very place God meant for thee.

Have you not asked to be made humble? See then, I have placed you in the very school where this lesson is taught; your surroundings and companions are working out My will.

Are you in money difficulties? Is it hard to make both ends meet? This thing is from Me, for I am your purse-bearer and would have you draw from and depend upon Me. My supplies are limitless (Philippians 4:19). I would have you prove My promises. Let it not be said of you, “In this thing ye did not believe the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 1:32).

Are you passing through a night of sorrow? This thing is from Me. I am the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief. I have let earthly comforters fail you, that by turning to Me you may obtain everlasting consolation (2 Thessalonians 2:16-17). Have you longed to do some great work for Me and instead have been laid aside on a bed of pain and weakness? This thing is from Me. I could not get your attention in your busy days and I want to teach you some of My deepest lessons. “They also serve who only stand and wait,” Some of My greatest workers are those shut of from active service, that they may learn to wield the weapon of all-prayer.

This day I place in your hand this pot of holy oil.
Make use of it free, My child,
Let every circumstance that arises,
every word that pains you,
every interruption that would make you impatient,
every revelation of your weakness be anointed with it.
The sting will do as you learn to see Me in all things.
Laura A. Barter Snow

I love the thought of anointing all situations in my life with His holy oil, consecrating them to His use through me. I’m not too good at this; often I get too involved to stop, step back and ask for God’s grace and strength, but I’ll continue to try. Maybe a little oil can on my desk would be a good reminder.

There is a beautiful story told of how one Christian dreamed that she saw three others in prayers. As they knelt the Master drew near to them.

As He approached the first of the three, He bent over her in tenderness and grace wiith a smile full of radiant love and spoke to her in accents of purest, sweetest music.

Leaving her, He came to the next but only placed His hand upon her bowed head, and gave her one look of loving approval.

The third woman He passed almost abruptly without stopping for a work or glance.

The woman in her dream said to herself, “How greatly He must love the first one, to the second He gave His approval, but none of the special demonstrations of love He gace the first; and the third must have grieved Him deeply, for He gave her no word at all and not even a pssing look.

I wonder what she had done, and why He made so much difference between them?” And she tried to account for the action of her Lord.

He Himself stood by her and said: “O woman! how wrongly hast thou interpreted Me. The first kneeling woman needs all the weight of My tenderness and care to keep her feet in My narrow way. She needs My love, thought and help every moment of the day .Without it she would fail and fall. the second has stronger faith and deeper love, and I can trust her to trust Me however things may go and whatever people may do.

“The third whom I seemed not to notice, and even to neglect, has faith and love of the finest quality, and her I am training by quick drastic processes for the highest and holiest service. She knows Me so intinately, and trusts Me so utterly, that she is independent of words or looks or any outward intimation of My approval. She is not dismayed nor discouraged by any circumstance through which I arrange that she shall pass; she trusts Me when sense and reason and every finer instinct of the natural heart would rebel,–because she knows that I am working in her for eternity and that what I do, though she knows not the explanation now, she shall understand hereafter.

“I am silent in My love because I love beyond the power of words to express, or of human hearts to understand and also for your sakes that you may learn to love and trust Me in Spirit-taught, spontaneous response to my My love, without the spur of anything ourward to call it forth.”Streams in the DesertPittsburg Bible Institute Publications

I love this story.

I first thought the third woman’s experience
was place when reached never changed.
I do want that strong faith and love for my Savior.
I also know I am human, with emotions and feelings.

Some days, I have run through a troop
Some days, I have leaped over a wall
Some days, I have fallen flat on my face.

Every day, I need much help to walk this way.
Every day, I need help on every leaning side
Every day, I need God’s anchor and strong chain to hold me fast.

Always I know His Presence is near.
Always I know His Grace is sufficient.
Always I know His Hand is holding mine.
Always I know His Word is tried and sure.

Psalms 18:28-35
For thou wilt light my candle:
the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.
For by thee I have run through a troop;
and by my God have I leaped over a wall.
As for God, his way is perfect:
the word of the LORD is tried:
he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.
For who is God save the LORD?
or who is a rock save our God?
It is God that girdeth me with strength,
and maketh my way perfect.
He maketh my feet like hinds’ feet,
and setteth me upon my high places.
He teacheth my hands to war,
so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.
Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation:
and thy right hand hath holden me up,
and thy gentleness hath made me great.

Psalm 9:9-10
The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed,
a refuge in times of trouble.
And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee:
for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.

The Father cares when He sees His children
in the teeth of a blinding storm,
but He knows that faith grows in the tempest.
He will hold our hands bidding us not to try
to see the next step we are to take.
He knows the paths of a hundred million stars,
know the way through the whirlwind and the storm,
and has promised, “I will never let go your hand!”

There is unquestionably a grave danger
of many becoming spiritually paralyzed by depression.
The forces of darkness are so imminent,
the magnitude of the crisis is so great
that many are tempted to cry out with the disciples,
“Lord, carest thou not that we perish”
Yet He who may appear to be “asleep upon a pillow”
is riding upon the storm in all His divine majesty.
The great need is for more faith in the omnipotent God.
from Streams in the Desert, Mrs. Charles Cowman

How many times in the midst of trouble
big, overwhelming, very real trouble
or small, piddly things
that have been exaggerated in our minds;
have we thought as the disciples,
“Lord, carest thou not that we perish”

We must not cast away our confidence in our God.
God is not as one of us.
God is not limited by human undertanding.
God is not bound by time.
Moses,

even after seeing the burning bush
even after seeing deliverance from Eygpt
even after seeing the cloud by day and pillar of fire by night,
even after seeing water fresh come from a rock,

God, is his great love and pity for the man
He created and called to lead His people,
reassured Moses with these words:

And he said, My presence shall go with thee,
and I will give thee rest. Exodus 33:14

God also assures us today.
Lean hard on these promises in Isaiah.
Don’t depend on our own understanding

In all their affliction he was afflicted, ( I love that thought)
and the angel of his presence saved them:
in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;
and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old. Isaiah 63:9

God, in His compassion, feels our afflictions,
and as a father who pities his children.
God cares.

And even to your old age I am he;
and even to hoar hairs will I carry you:
I have made, and I will bear;
even I will carry, and will deliver you. Isaiah 46:4

Troubles
Big or Little,
Yes, they will come.
It’s called life.
Our comfort –
We are not alone.

There is a story of an old man who carried a little can of oil with him everywhere he went, and if he passed through a door that squeaked, he poured a little oil on the hinges. If a gate was hard to open, he oiled the latch. And thus he passed through life lubricating all hard places and making it easier for those who came after him. People called him eccentric, queer, and cranky; but the old man went steadily on refilling his can of oil when it became empty, and oiled the hard places he found.

There are many lives that creak and grate harshly as they live day by day. Nothing goes right with them. They need lubricating with the oil of gladness, gentleness, or thoughtfulness.

Have you your own can of oil with you?
Be ready with your oil of helpfulness
in the early morning to the one nearest you.
It may lubricate the whole day for him.
The oil, of good cheer to the downhearted one–
Oh, how much it may mean!
The word of courage to the despairing.
Speak it.
Our lives touch others but once,
perhaps,
on the road of life;
and then,
mayhap,
our ways diverge,
never to meet again.

The oil of kindness has worn the sharp, hard edges off of many a sin-hardened life and left it soft and pliable and ready for the redeeming grace of the Saviour. A word spoken pleasantly is a large spot of sunshine on a sad heart. Therefore, “Give others the sunshine, tell Jesus the rest.”

We cannot know the grief
That men may borrow;
We cannot see the souls
Storm-swept by sorrow;
But love can shine upon the way
Today, tomorrow;
Let us be kind.
Upon the wheel of pain so many weary lives are broken,
We live in vain who give no tender token.
Let us be kind.

“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love”
Romans 12:10
~~~from: Streams in the Desert, Mrs Charles E. Cowman

I am the Almighty God; walk before me,
and be thou perfect.–Genesis 17:1

Consecrate yourselves to-day to the Lord.
–Exodus 32:29.

I have noticed that wherever there has been
a faithful following of the Lord in a consecrated soul,
several things have inevitably followed, sooner or later.
Meekness and quietness of spirit become in time
the characteristics of the daily life.
A submissive acceptance of the will of God
as it comes in the hourly events of each day;
pliability in the hands of God to do
or to suffer all the good pleasure of His will;
sweetness under provocation;
calmness in the midst of turmoil and bustle;
yieldingness to the wishes of others,
and an insensibility to slights and affronts;
absence of worry or anxiety;
deliverance from care and fear;
–all these, and many similar graces,
are invariably found to be the natural outward development
of that inward life which is hid with Christ in God.
H. W. SMITH.

The garden plot is resting,
waiting for the Farmer to bring plants and seed.

Good Morning

1 Kings 12:22
But the word of God came unto Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
23 Speak unto Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, king of Judah, and unto all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 24 Thus saith the Lord, Ye shall not go up, nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel: return every man to his house; for this thing is from me. They hearkened therefore to the word of the Lord, and returned to depart, according to the word of the Lord.

“return every man to his house;”
no fighting
no hardness
no danger
return to your homes
return to your rest

“for this thing is from me”
God says,
“I have a plan
I have a reason
This is for your good.”

from streams in the Desert
by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman
February 1

My child, I have a message for you today;
let me whisper it in your ear,
that it may gild with glory any storm clouds which may arise,
and smooth the rough places upon which you may have to tread.
It is short, only five words,
but let them sink into your inmost soul;
and use them as a pillow to rest your weary head.
“This thing is from me.”

Have you ever thought of it,
that all that concerns you concerns Me too? . . .

This day I place in your hands this pot of holy oil.
Make use of it freely, My child.
Let every circumstance that arises,
every word that pains you,
every interruption that would make you impatient,
and every revelation of your weakness
be anointed with it.
The sting will go as you learn to see Me in all things.
–Laura A. Barter Snow

Faith is the eye by which we look to Jesus A dim-sighted eye is still an eye, a weeping eye is still an eye.

Faith is the hand with which we lay hold on Jesus. A trembling hand is still a hand. And he is a believer whose heart within him trembles when he touches the hem of the Savior’s garment, that he may be healed.

Faith is the tongue by which we taste how good the Lord is. A feverish tongue is nevertheless a tongue. And even then we may believe when we are without the smallest portion of comfort; for our faith is founded not upon feelings but on the promises of God.

Faith is the foot by which we go to Jesus. A lame foot is still a foot. He who comes slowly nevertheless still comes.
~~~George Mueller

WHAT FAITH DOES
Verse 1
You ask me why I believe like I do
Why I’m so convinced that the Bible is true
I’m here to tell you, it’s only because
I’ve come through enough to see what faith does
Chorus
Faith sees the invisible, believes the impossible
Receives the incredible, no matter what was
Faith moves the unmovable, proves the unprovable
For anyone willing to trust
Believe and you’ll see what faith does
Verse 2
If there’s a mountain that stands in your way
From all you can see, it will be there to stay
God said with the faith of a small mustard seed
That mountain will move, believe and you’ll see
Chorus
Tag
Believe and you’ll see what faith does
You’ll see what faith does
You’ll see what faith does

So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down that the rain stop thee not. 1 Kings 18:42-44

Come up on top of Carmel.
and see that remarkable parable of Faith and Sight
It was not the descent of the fire that now was necessary,
but the descent of the flood;
and the man that can command the fire
can command the flood by the same means and methods.
We are told he bowed himself to the ground
with his face between his knees;
that is, shutting out all sights and sounds.
He was putting himself in a position where,
beneath his mantle,
he could neither see nor hear what was going forward.

He said to his servant,
“Go and take an observation.”
He went and came back,
and said–how sublimely brief!
one word–“Nothing.”

What do we do under such circumstances?

We say, “It is just as I expected!”
and we give up praying.
Did Elijah?
No, he said, “Go again.”
His servant again came back and said,
“Nothing!”
“Go again.”
‘Nothing!”

By and by he came back, and said,
“There is a little cloud like a man’s hand.”
A man’s hand had been raised in supplication,
and presently down came the rain;
and Ahab had not time to get back
to the gate of Samaria with all his fast steeds.
This is a parable of Faith and Sight–
faith shutting itself up with God;
sight taking observations
and seeing nothing;
faith going right on,
and “praying with prayer,”
with utterly hopeless reports from sight.

Do you know how to pray that way,
how to pray prevailingly?
Let sight give as discouraging reports as it may,
but pay no attention to thee.
The living God is still in the heavens
and even to delay is part of His goodness.
~~Arthur T. Pierson

We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
2Corinthians 4:8-9

George Matheson, the great Scottish preacher,
who when he was told by a famous oculist that he was going blind,
wrote these lovely words:
“O love that will not let me go!–I rest my weary soul on thee.”
Also,
“O joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to Thee:
I trace the rainbow through the rain”;
— listen to these lines from his pen:

“There are times when things lii very dark to me–so dark that I have to wait even for hope. A long-deferred fulfillment carries its own pain, but to wait for hope, to see no glimmer of a prospect and yet refuse to despair; to have nothing but night before the casement and yet to keep the casement open for possible stars; to have a vacant place in my heart and yet to allow that place to filled by no inferior presence–that is the grandest patience in the universe, It is Job in the tempest; it is Abraham on the road to Moriah; it is Moses in the desert of Midian; it is the Son of man in the Garden of Gethsemane.”

It takes a real faith to trace the rainbow through the rain,
but it takes the storm cloud to make the rainbow,
and George Matheson learned to have a childlike trust,
and his testimony has blessed millions throughout this generation.
from Streams in the Desert 2

I love the water circles in this picture…
the cat is pretty special, too.

Good Morning

Lord, increase our faith. Luke 17:5

Faith is not clinging–it is letting go.

Somewhere we have read a story that goes like this:

“A traveler upon a lonely road was set upon by bandits who robbed him of all he dad. they then led him into the depths of the forest. There is the darkness they tied a rope to the limb of a great tree, and bade him catch hold of the end of it. Swinging him out into the blackness of surrounding space, they told him he was hanging over the brink of a giddy precipice. The moment he let go he would be dashed to pieces on the ricks below. And then they left him. His soul was filled with horror at the awful doom impending. He clutched despairingly the end of the swaying rope. But each dreadful moment only make his fate more sure. His strength steadily failed. At last he could hold on no longer. The end had come. His clenched fingers relaxed their convulsive grip. He fell—six inches, to the solid earth at his feet! It was only a ruse of the robbers to gain time in escaping. And when he let go it was not to death, but to the safety which had been waiting him through all his time of terror.”

Clutching will not save anyone from his hopelessness.
It is only Satan’s trick to keep you from being afforded
security and peace in the solid promises of God.
And all the while you are swinging over
the supposed precipice of fear and mistrust.
Let Go!
It is God’s plan that you fall–not to defeat,
but into His arms, the solid Rock.
As soon as you recognize your sheer helplessness
and your failing strength,
you let go;
and falling upon Him,
your fear goes,
your mistrust goes,
and the blessed assurance come forever.
For He–not your clinging but–“He shall save his people from their sins.”
from ‘Streams in the Desert 2’